Topic 3- Wed. Dec. 1

    The first of three rounds of Circle 7 is the dwelling place of those who were Violent Against their Neighbors. In this circle there is a River of Blood, in which those enveloped boil endlessly. It is described to Dante when Virgil says,"there we shall find the river of boiling blood in which are steeped all who struck down their fellow men"(112). The River of Blood, as described, most plainly represents the blood shed by the victims of this sin, making it understandable on a simple level in which the average man would most likely catch on to. While in a deeper, more enhancing, sense, one my connect that since these sinners lusted for the blood of others during their life they must now wallow and be scalded by it in hell for eternity.
    Not every sinner in this section suffers from the same severity, for example said by Dante "Thus, as we followed along the stream of blood, its level fell until it cooked no more than the feet of the damned." (114) Dante's hell is actually quite flexible according to the degree or seriousness of sin as spoken of. This is shown by the fact that as the poets moved on, the stream of blood became shallower and less torturous to those who may not have killed as many as others who boil in blood to the brown rather the lesser, merely to the foot. By using this River of Blood, Dante is able to symbolize the idea of level of punishment of sin and also the contrapasso of the sin, since they killed and shed the blood of others in life, they must suffer in the blood of others in death forever.